Pace said she has no doubt that the crash was intentional because Johnson had been harassing his former wife for months, including by buying a house three doors down from hers.
"That was the only way he could hurt Beth," she said. "That was the only way he could get to her."
In the cell phone call, Pace said, her daughter could hear the child in the background saying, "Mommy, come get me, come get me." It was unclear whether the call was made from the cockpit or before the plane took off.
Police were treating the crash as a suicide and homicide. State Police Sergeant Dave Bursten said investigators had yet to find any notes indicating Johnson's intentions, but the fact that the house was his ex-wife's mother's home raised serious questions.
"All of those things together lead us in the direction that this was done intentionally," Bursten said.
Andrew Todd Fox of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators were also reviewing whether the plane was functioning properly and hoped to have a report within a week.
Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport has no controller on duty, so there was no tape available of any radio communication, Fox said.
He declined to say whether Johnson, 47, said anything over the plane's radio before the plane crashed into Pace's home around 10:45 a.m. Monday in Bedford, nearly 70 miles southwest of Indianapolis. Pace was home but uninjured.
The plane had already crashed but the occupants had not been identified when Beth Johnson filed a missing person report because her daughter had not arrived at school after spending the weekend with her father.
"It is just gut-wrenching to think about what was happening to that child just prior to the crash," Bedford Police Sergeant Dennis Parsley said.
Witnesses said the aircraft appeared to be trying to land when it veered sharply .
Eric Johnson, a property manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, had recently taken the girl to Cancun for a few days of vacation.
Emily "was to spend the weekend with dad, and dad was supposed to bring her to school Monday morning," Parsley said.
Johnson obtained his pilot's license in November, the same month the couple divorced after 12 years of marriage.
Court records showed Beth Johnson had obtained a restraining order against her husband July 14, 2006, but the court would not disclose the reasons.
Pace said Johnson threatened his wife with a gun last summer in an effort to change her mind about the divorce. Bedford police said they never received a complaint about the alleged incident.
Mary Webb, who lived near the Johnsons for about 12 years, said police cars were parked outside the home for weeks last summer. Eric Johnson told her they were there to protect his wife and daughter.
"He said, 'I wouldn't hurt her, I wouldn't do that,' and I took his word for it," Webb said.
